The present invention relates to a blower unit of an automobile air conditioner and, more particularly, to a scroll casing of the blower unit.
A typical example of the known automobile air conditioner is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 59-171712 in which an air intake fan with an air intake port is detachably mounted in a scroll casing. The air intake fan is arranged in the scroll casing at a position symmetrical with respect to an air streamline in the scroll casing.
More specifically, the shape of the air conditioner, except the blower unit, and a connecting portion of the blower unit are formed symmetrically with respect to the air streamline to be commonly used in both right and left steering wheel automobiles.
The prior art, however, fails to take into consideration the common use of the blower unit for both right and left steering wheel automobiles. In the known blower unit, only the air intake port connecting portion and the fixing lugs are arranged symmetrically, and a problem encountered in the prior art resides in fact that it is not possible to use the blower unit for both right and left steering wheel automobiles for reasons of the installation space and the mounting of the blower unit.
This results in that two types of blower units are necessary for one type for automobile with steering wheels different in position. Thus, the production cost, such as cost of metallic molds is doubled, and moreover maintenance of the blower unit takes considerable time.